asshole
/æshoʊl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.34 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A jerk; an inappropriately or objectionably mean, inconsiderate, contemptible, immoral, obnoxious, intrusive, stupid, or rude person.
American usage; Derogatory; Offensive
Example Sentences
- "That homemade hot sauce of yours got me twice, both coming and going. My asshole is still sore."
- "She said she couldn't wiggle when she had the doorknob in her asshole."
- "'You talk as if you were born without an asshole,' he cried to Commander Semmes."
- "My former landlord was a world-class asshole. Fortunately my current landlord is an actual human being."
- "He philosophised all day about Morandi, Klee, Miró and Picasso, and was such an asshole that he spelled "cunt" with a "d"."
- "She posted her story on Reddit to ask if she was, in fact, the asshole, and the results showed that she was not. […] They are the assholes for thinking they and their little crotch-spawn were special and exempt from the event guidelines."
Etymology
Etymology tree English ass Proto-Germanic *hulaz Proto-Germanic *hulą Proto-West Germanic *hol Old English hol Middle English hole English hole English asshole Variant of earlier arsehole, from Middle English arshole, arcehoole, equivalent to ass + hole. Cognate with Norwegian rasshøl (“asshole”), Swedish arsle (“asshole”). Compare also German Arschloch (“asshole”). Attested from the 1370s, replacing earlier Old English earsþyrel (“anus”, literally “ass hole”). First recorded in Middle English, as ers hole (Glouc. Cath. Manuscript 19. No. I., dated 1379, cited after OED), ars-hole (Bodleian Ashmole MS. 1396, dated ca. 1400, ed. Robert Von Fleischhacker as Lanfrank's "Science of Cirurgie", EETS 102, 1894, cited after OED.) Slang figurative usage dates to the 20th century; it was used of an uninviting place (compare shithole) in the 1920s, and then of an anti-social or despicable person from at least the 1950s (Harvard Advocate 137, March 1954). It is also used appositionally (as in "You're an asshole moralist", T. Chamales, 1957).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /æshoʊl/
Usage
- American usage
- Derogatory
- Offensive
- Obsolete